Friday, July 20, 2012
Daily Report
Top Stories
• The energy industry has been targeted by
cyberthreats of extortion, espionage, and sabotage, according to a new report.
Industry leaders think more needs to be done to secure smart grids. – McAfee
3.
July 18, McAfee – (National) McAfee
report highlights critical need for improved energy grid security. McAfee
announced a report detailing the thoughts of industry leaders on the state of
energy security July 18. The report, Getting Smarter About Smart Grid Cyberthreats,
looks at how legacy smart grids are vulnerable to attack and how security must
be built into these critical systems. The electrical power grid is the backbone
on which everything else depends on, the report stated. It noted a
cybercriminal could debilitate a major city by a single targeted attack on the
energy grid and compromise anything from the lights and appliances in homes, to
heart monitors in hospitals, to air defense systems. The most prevalent
cyberthreat reported by the global energy sector is extortion, the study found.
Criminals gain access to a utility’s system, demonstrate that they are capable
of doing damage, and demand a ransom. The report said additional threats
include espionage and sabotage, all with the goal of financial gain, data theft,
and shutting down facilities. Source: http://www.mcafee.com/us/about/news/2012/q3/20120718-01.aspx
• A southeast Texas chemical company and its
ex-president were charged for scheming to illegally transport hazardous
materials without proper documentation and placards. A grand jury indictment
said the malfeasance resulted in the deaths of two workers who were exposed to
hydrogen sulfide. – Associated Press
5.
July 19, Associated Press – (Texas) Texas
man charged in environmental violations. A southeast Texas chemical company
and its ex-president were charged with environmental violations that resulted
in the deaths of two workers. A federal grand jury’s 13-count indictment was
unsealed July 18, said a statement from the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern
District of Texas. The grand jury accused Port Arthur Chemical and
Environmental Services, LLC and its former president of scheming to illegally
transport hazardous materials without proper documentation and placards. Those
actions led to the deaths of two truck drivers in December 2008 and April 2009,
according to the statement. The truck drivers died of exposure to hydrogen
sulfide, a toxic gas. The conspiracy count carries a maximum sentence of 5
years in prison. The company can be fined up to $500,000. The firm produced and
sold caustic materials to paper mills. The owner and the company he owned and
operated until November 2010 are accused of violating federal rules that
regulate transport of such hazardous materials. The incidents are also being
investigated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Texas Commission
of Environmental Quality, and many other State and federal agencies. Source: http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Texas-man-charged-in-environmental-violations-3719710.php
• The number of people in the United States
and Canada sickened in a Salmonella Infantis outbreak linked to dog and cat
food manufactured at a South Carolina plant more has grown to 49 people, with
officials expecting more cases in coming months. – Food Safety News
23.
July 19, Food Safety News – (National;
International) Diamond Pet Foods human cases reach 49. At least 49
people have fallen ill since October 2011 in a Salmonella Infantis outbreak
linked to dog and cat food manufactured at a Diamond Pet Foods facility in
Gaston, South Carolina, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) in its final outbreak update. That case count has risen from
22 since the CDC’s previous update June 13, Food Safety News reported July 19.
Of those ill, 47 are from the United States and 2 are from Canada. The rate of
new cases has declined since the peak in April and May, but more cases continue
to surface as people come in contact with recalled dog food. Considering the
expected shelf life of pet food is 1 year, the CDC anticipates more cases to
occur in the coming months. Source: http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/07/cdc-diamond-pet-foods-human-case-count-hits-49/
• Computer security experts disabled Grum, the
world’s third-largest botnet, a cluster of infected computers used by cyber criminals
to send spam to millions of people. Grum was responsible for approximately 18
percent of global spam. – New York Times See item 45 below in the Information Technology Sector
Details
Banking and Finance Sector
12. July 18,
KGET 17 Bakersfield – (California) Nine people indicted in multi-million mortgage
fraud scheme. Eight people from Bakersfield, California, and a man from Los
Angeles were indicted in what authorities called a $5 million mortgage fraud scheme,
KGET 17 Bakersfield reported July 18. Federal prosecutors said the individuals
worked for and operated Jara Brothers Investments, Paragon Realty, and Paragon
Home Mortgage. Investigators said they defrauded lenders by paying buyers to
purchase houses at inflated prices using falsified or exaggerated income on
loan documents. Source: http://www.kget.com/news/local/story/Nine-people-indicted-in-multi-million-mortgage/4e4VM6Y740Wp7cTGy4D_WQ.cspx
13. July 18,
Los Angeles Times – (California; Washington) ‘AK-47 Bandit’ who shot Chino officer
tied to three bank robberies. A ski-masked gunman known as the “AK-47
Bandit” who wounded a Chino, California police officer in February after a bank
robbery has been tied to two other bank robberies, the FBI said July 18. In the
February 29 robbery at the California Bank & Trust in Chino, the gunman
made a 9-1-1 call from a nearby pay phone saying he had a bomb and would
detonate it. However, the call was a diversionary tactic, authorities said. The
gunman is believed to have robbed a Bank of the West March 12 in Vacaville. He
is also suspected of robbing a Chase Bank in the Seattle area July 6, the FBI
said. The gunman wears ski masks and bulletproof vests and is armed with an
AK-47, with a sling and drum magazine, authorities said. Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/07/ak-47-bandit-chino-three-bank-robberies.html
14. July 18,
Associated Press – (National) 8 tagged as potential threats to financial system.
Federal regulators tagged eight exchanges and clearinghouses that settle
trades as potential threats to the stability of the financial system that need
strict government oversight July 18. They include the Chicago Mercantile
Exchange, the Depository Trust Co., the National Securities Clearing Corp., and
the Options Clearing Corp. The announcement was made by the Financial Stability
Oversight Council, a group of top regulators that includes the Treasury
Secretary and the Federal Reserve Chairman. The action was mandated by the 2010
financial overhaul law. The agencies that regulate the exchanges and
clearinghouses will set rules for them to manage risks. Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i0i1pEv68yRhsHaRJkXrHyZ6eXYg?docId=295199c7d7a4410399221ca398c76eaf
15. July 18,
Bloomberg News – (National) Mizuho to pay $128 million in U.S. case over CDO
‘dummy’ assets. Mizuho Financial Group Inc. agreed to pay $128 million to
settle U.S. regulatory claims that it used “dummy assets” to inflate the credit
ratings of a financial product tied to subprime mortgages as the housing market
deteriorated in 2007, Bloomberg News reported July 18. The U.S. brokerage unit
of Japan’s third-biggest bank by market value gave Standard and Poor’s
inaccurate information about the assets backing a $1.6 billion collateralized
debt obligation (CDO) it was structuring, the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) said in a statement. Once the inaccurate portfolio was rated,
Mizuho used the misleading ratings to sell the CDO, known as Delphinus CDO
2007-1, which defaulted in 2008. Delaware Asset Advisers, which managed the
Delphinus collateral, agreed to pay about $4.8 million to settle related
claims, the SEC said. Source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-18/mizuho-to-pay-128-million-in-sec-case-over-cdo-dummy-assets
16. July 18,
SecurityWeek – (International) Criminals circumvent fraud detectors with
real-time credential theft. Trusteer researchers found that cyber-criminals
were employing new tactics to circumvent the risk analytics engines used by
banks to detect financial fraud, SecurityWeek reported July 18. Criminals
intercept a complete set of log-in credentials, block legitimate users from
accessing the account, and log into a compromised account before the one-time
password expires, Trusteer’s CTO wrote in a blog post. By tricking users into
entering the one-time password and blocking log-in attempts to the site,
criminals circumvent the risk analytic tools used by banks to detect fraudulent
behavior. The engines identify theft by looking for multiple devices
simultaneously logged into a single account and successive logins from
locations that are geographically too far apart. Malware intercepts the
credentials and then shows users a page claiming the site is temporarily down,
allowing the criminal to log in using the one-time password without triggering
any alarms at the bank. Source: http://www.securityweek.com/criminals-circumvent-fraud-detectors-real-time-credential-theft
For
another story, see item 41 below in the Information
Technology Sector
Information Technology Sector
40. July 19,
The Register – (International) Firefox 14 tabs no longer sneak a peek at
users’ privates. Mozilla plugged a privacy-related security hole in Firefox
13. The flaw allowed the software’s “new tab” feature to take snapshots of
supposedly secure HTTPS sessions. Users raised concern over the feature that,
for example, revealed online bank account details or private messages in Web
mail sessions to the next user of a shared PC. Mozilla quickly acknowledged the
problem and issued a workaround and privacy advice in early June. The browser
maker bundled in a more comprehensive fix with Firefox 14, which stops the
caching of content from sensitive Web sites. Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/19/firefox_14_new_tab_fix/
41. July 19,
H Security – (International) Trojan attack on Maplesoft customers. Cyber
criminals used an elaborate multi-stage concept to attack Maplesoft customers:
the perpetrators accessed the software company’s customer database and then
asked customers to install a malicious “security patch” on behalf of the
company. Those who complied proceeded to infect their systems with the Zeus
trojan. Maplesoft said it already closed the hole the attackers exploited to
access the database, and the affected customers were informed. The company
added that intruders were not able to access customers’ payment details during
the breach. Source: http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/Trojan-attack-on-Maplesoft-customers-1647594.html
42. July 18,
H Security – (International) Researchers criticize the iPhone’s PIN
storing practice. Apple’s iPhone smartphones permanently store the PIN
number from an installed SIM card in a keychain. According to a researcher from
the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology, this policy not
only goes against the relevant standards, it also puts users’ security at risk
because the PIN can be easily retrieved even from a locked device. The H’s
associates at heise Security were able to easily and quickly locate the SIM_PIN
entry with the four correct digits in the keychain. The entry remains in the
keychain until the device is fully powered down. This fact is also documented
in Apple’s recent security overview; apparently, Apple uses the entries to
avoid having to request the SIM card’s PIN code from users after a crash. The
problem is the SIM_PIN can be reconstructed if, for instance, a thief acquires
a locked iPhone. The keychain entry is not protected by the iPhone’s code lock
and can be retrieved directly. Source: http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/Researchers-criticise-the-iPhone-s-PIN-storing-practice-1644874.html
43. July 18,
Infosecurity – (International) Researchers criticize Tridium for being
‘unresponsive’ to security issues. The researchers who worked with the
Washington Post to uncover security gaps in Tridium’s Niagara Framework said
Tridium has been “unresponsive” to fixing the flaws. In a follow-up blog to the
report, the researchers said they were “disappointed” that it took so long for
the public exposure of the security gaps in the Niagara Framework and that the
U.S. government continued to purchase the Niagara software even though an audit
in 2011 turned up critical, remotely exploitable vulnerabilities. At the same
time, the researchers had praise for the DHS’s Industrial Control Systems
Computer Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT). After being informed of the
security issues, ICS-CERT was making “every effort” with Tridium to get the
problems fixed. Source: http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/view/27064/
44. July 18,
Ars Technica – (International) Dropbox hires ‘outside experts’ to
investigate possible e-mail breach. Dropbox users complained for several
days about spam delivered to email accounts they created solely to log into
Dropbox. There were no reports of unauthorized activity on Dropbox accounts,
but it happened to enough users that Dropbox investigated the matter with its
internal security team. The company also brought in “outside experts” to
investigate if there was a breach. It is not yet certain there was a breach.
Some Dropbox users posting on the support forum and Twitter reported receiving
no spam, and the problem may be isolated to a small percentage of users. While
some users accused Dropbox of having a security problem, others pointed out
possible explanations that are more benign. Source: http://arstechnica.com/security/2012/07/dropbox-hires-outside-experts-to-investigate-possible-e-mail-breach/
45. July 18,
New York Times – (International) Researchers say they took down world’s
third-largest botnet. July 18, computer security experts took down Grum,
the world’s third-largest botnet, a cluster of infected computers used by cyber
criminals to send spam to millions of people. Grum, computer security experts
said, was responsible for roughly 18 percent of global spam, or 18 billion spam
messages a day. Computer security experts blocked the botnet’s command and
control servers in the Netherlands and Panama July 17. However, later that day,
Grum’s architects set up seven new command and control centers in Russia and
Ukraine. FireEye, a computer security company in California, said it worked
with its counterparts in Russia and with SpamHaus, a British organization that
tracks and blocks spam, to take down those command and control centers the
morning of July 18. Source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/18/cybersecurity-researchers-say-they-took-down-worlds-third-largest-botnet/
For more stories, see items 3, above
in Top Stories and 16 in the Banking and Finance Sector
Communications Sector
See
items 42, 43,
and 45 above in the Information Technology Sector
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